World Benchemarking Alliance Newsletter

 

Welcome to this month's edition of the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) newsletter. These past few weeks have taken WBA from the World Economic Forum in Davos to the 64th Commission on Social Development of the United Nations, advancing conversations on the state of global corporate accountability. In this edition, we share our reflections from these global moments and other key updates from across our work. Have a good read!         The state of global corporate sustainability: Reflections from the launch of our global analysis at the World Economic Forum in Davos Expectations on business are rising, while the operating environment is becoming more volatile, fragmented and uncertain. Last month, we brought together business leaders, investors, civil society and policymakers to engage on our new analysis of the world’s 2,000 most influential companies and what their collective role means in an increasingly unstable global context. Participants reflected on how companies can deliver positive impact without undermining performance, how resilience is built in practice, and what role regulation, governance and capital markets play in enabling change at scale. Throughout the event, our speakers highlighted insightful takeaways, including: Companies without credible transition plans are at risk of losing their competitive advantage, quickly. Corporate leaders will not be remembered for the commitments they make, but for the changes they actually delivered. The gap between ambition and impact is now reputational, financial and strategic. Execution depends on data and comparability matters. Without high-quality, comparable data, it will be impossible to influence capital markets or corporate decision-making at the scale required. The full discussion is available to watch on YouTube for those who would like to explore these perspectives in-depth.     From laggards to leaders: Trends revealed by the 2026 Nature Benchmark     The Nature Benchmark assesses 750 companies across high-impact industries, from those directly managing natural resources like food, mining and forestry, to those relying on resources further down the value chain, such as apparel, packaging, and pharmaceuticals.  At first glance, we see a sobering picture across the board. The average score is just 17 out of 100, showing how far corporate practice still falls short of what is necessary to halt and reverse nature loss. However, average scores can mask important differences between companies. When we look at the results as a distribution rather than a single score, we see three distinct patterns: A group of laggards score close to zero. These are disproportionately private companies, often facing less legislative pressure to disclose sustainability information and limited accountability to public shareholders and other stakeholders. Around two-thirds of companies sit in a broad middle band, scoring between 10 and 30. These companies acknowledge nature-related risks at a high level, but have yet to embed them meaningfully into strategy or decision-making.  Lastly, there is a long but thin upper tail, with roughly 10% of companies scoring between 30 and 60. These are the leading companies, including PUMA Group, Norsk Hydro, and BASF, that are already taking concrete steps to understand and manage their impacts and dependencies on nature, providing practical examples of what is feasible in practice and what others can learn from. Read more on our website.       Advancing living wages for social justice at the 64th Session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD64) One year after the World Benchmarking Alliance, United Nations Global Compact, IDH and WBCSD called for prioritising living wages at the Second World Summit for Social Development, stakeholders reconvened to reflect on the Doha Political Declaration and, crucially, how to turn commitment into action. Here are a few points that stood out during the conversation: Our new analysis of 2,000 keystone companies show progress is still limited, with only 5% of 2,000 keystone companies disclose paying a living wage. Yet, 47 new companies now report achievement or credible pathways toward living wage coverage, as additional 185 are taking initial steps, and 214 are just shy of meeting criteria —the untapped middle that could scale change. ILO living wage principles remain the essential foundation for credible and globally aligned action, finding companies that meet collective bargaining requirements are around three times more likely to also guarantee a living wage for their workforce. Business leaders stressed that living wages must be treated as a material business issue, extending beyond direct employees into supply chains and requiring extensive but necessary cost internalisation. Policy and regulation are becoming stronger enablers, from the CSRD in Europe to national efforts like Colombia’s push to raise minimum wages towards a living wage. Across the board, the discussion made it clear that while disclosure remains low, the building blocks for progress are in place. There is growing corporate momentum, with clearer global principles through the ILO and examples of corporate implementation and best practices. The opportunity now is to accelerate action among companies already taking steps and better align business practices with enabling public policy to turn commitments into action. Explore our latest findings on living wages.   From Doha to Delivery: Implementing living wages across global agendas     Following the 64th Commission on Social Development of the United Nations that marked the beginning of the Doha Declaration’s implementation phase, Charlotte Reeves, our Multistakeholder Engagement Lead, highlight three priority measures for UN Member States to strengthen delivery in this new article.  First, a formal member-state led, multistakeholder process should be established to define the respective responsibilities of business in delivering living wages, aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Second, implementation of the Doha Political Declaration should mobilise coordinated action across governments, employers, workers, investors and civil society. Lastly, as companies navigate energy and digital transitions, this is a critical opportunity to frame living wages not as a cost or trade-off, but as a driver of resilient businesses, supply chains and economies. Read the full article on our website     New report on traceability in seafood supply chains: An imperative for investors As proud partners of the FAIRR Initiative’s seafood traceability engagement, alongside WWF-US, Planet Tracker and United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)’s Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative, we are pleased to share the latest progress report which examines how seven of the world’s largest seafood companies are advancing the implementation of traceability systems.  Key findings reveal that four companies now have a robust traceability commitment, two companies now explicitly reference the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) and companies continue to face challenges in implementing traceability systems, including paper-based processes, fragmented data and complex supply chains. Download the report to explore further insights.     Global moments, industry insights and key updates     Shaping AI for humanity, inclusive growth and a sustainable future: WBA at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi This week, we joined global political leaders, tech leaders, grassroots participants and other multilateral stakeholders in Delhi for the India–AI Impact Summit 2026.  We were pleased to contribute to a session organised by the United Nations Human Rights B-Tech Project and UNESCO, alongside speakers from Nasscom, Microsoft, LG AI Research and O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU). The discussion focused on safe and trusted AI, inclusive economic growth, and the enabling conditions needed for accountability lifecycle. We also co-hosted a Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD) roundtable together with Gabriela Ramos, Co-Chair, Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD). We had an insightful discussion on how global disclosure frameworks can work in the Indian context, and what practical and political challenges might arise in implementation. Conversations across the board shows that the next chapter will be defined not by AI breakthrough alone, but by whether governance frameworks are strong enough to ensure AI serves humanity at scale. Visit our website to know more about how the 200 most influential digital technology companies are advancing digital inclusion.    Sydney Climate Action Week 2026: A closer look at how data and insights are reshaping the future of Australian corporate leadership As part of Sydney Climate Action Week, WBA is convening leaders and key influencers from companies, including investors, civil society, and governments. This event will highlight how Australian-headquartered companies are performing on climate, nature, and human rights. The event will take place on 9 March, the same day we publish a report with key insights into the performance of the 21 Australian-headquartered real economy businesses we assessed. Register through this link.     Thank you for taking the time to read this month’s newsletter! We appreciate your continued support and interest in our work. If you have any questions or media inquiries, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing press@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org or follow us on social media